MOSCOW - The growing pains for Paul Petrino and his football team continue to be painful.

With a third-string quarterback at the helm and a defense that struggled to tackle at times on Saturday, the latest ache for the first-year head coach and his players came in the form of a 37-21 defeat to Texas State.

The loss to the future Sun Belt Conference opponent in front of an announced Kibbie Dome crowd of 15,088 was not the worst in Idaho's four game losing streak, but it highlighted how far the Vandals (1-8) still have to go in the rebuilding process.

"(I) fully expected us to play really well, and I thought at times we did play well," Petrino said.

"You know, we are just not quite there yet. It is still a process. We are still working to get to where we need to be."

On Idaho's first possession, Dezmon Epps dropped a Taylor Davis pass that was initially ruled an incompletion. Texas State cornerback Xavier Daniels jumped on the loose ball at the Vandals' 28-yard line and was rewarded with a fumble recovery after the play was reviewed.

Texas State took its first lead four plays later on a 1-yard run by Robert Lowe.

The Vandals responded with an 11-play, 75-yard drive that went into the scorebook as a 20-yard touchdown catch by Deon Watson. However, the pass took an unusual path to get to the redshirt freshman from Coeur d'Alene.

Davis overthrew his intended receiver, Epps, but the sailing football deflected off of a twisting Najee Lovett's shoulder pad and into the opportunistic hands of Watson for his first career TD catch.

"There were some things we did well (on offense)," Petrino said. "Taylor, I thought for being a third-string quarterback and not having a bunch of reps, I thought he competed hard and did some good things for us."

Davis, who was making his second start in place of injured quarterbacks Chad Chalich and Josh McCain, finished 20 of 35 passing for 181 yards and two touchdowns. The senior threw downfield just a handful of times, with his longest pass going for 23 yards on a wheel route by Kristoffer Olugbode.

Instead, the Vandal offense featured running back James Baker. The 228-pound senior rushed for 114 yards and a touchdown on runs that came primarily between the tackles.

But Baker's big game wasn't enough to keep pace with the Bobcats (6-3). A team that typically runs the ball, Texas State had success passing against an Idaho team that entered the game ranked 106th in passing defense.

Freshman quarterback Tyler Jones finished 19 of 23 passing for 228 yards and two TDs. Jones connected with Isaiah Battle for a 4-yard scoring pass on the last play of the first half to give the Bobcats a 23-14 lead.

"Today, he was throwing and he was doing a pretty decent job of it," defensive end Maxx Forde said. "That is something that we have to be able to react to and make sure we make plays in the passing game."

Texas State extended its lead to 37-14 midway through the fourth quarter. Davis found Richard Montgomery for a 10-yard TD pass with less than 4 minutes left in the game for the Vandals' final score.

Idaho will try to find a remedy for its losing streak when it hosts Old Dominion next Saturday in the Vandals final home game.